There is a blue sign that catches the eye when you make the turn off of the busy road into my quiet and unfinished neighborhood. “THIS IS A CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT”, it reads in bold white character that often leaves residents and visitors alike wondering what a cluster development actually is and why it is worthy of a sign so blue. It was not my choice to live here. If it were up to me I would have chosen the already finished house, with a fancy pool in the backyard, and plenty of neighborhood kids my age to play flashlight tag with. But at the time, I was only fifteen and unable to foresee the opportunities that lay in the new cluster development I now call home. Making friends in the neighborhood was out of the question. At the time my neighbors are either grown with their own kids, or they had a bedtime of seven o’clock and a solid grip onto their binkies for comfort. But what was once a predicament is now who I am today, for this blessing in disguise was my opportunity to become an expertise babysitter.
Before the move, when I was twelve, my father signed me up to take the Red Cross babysitting course. At the time, this course seemed to me to be the longest day of my life. We had to sit in a room and listen to our instructor go on about CPR, the Heimlich maneuver, and how to change a diaper from about seven in the morning until five o’clock at night. But once that day was over, I was a true Red Cross certified Babysitter. With one days training I could be trusted with children of all ages, in theory.
Business was booming. People trusted me with their kids because I am generally friendly in character and I had my certification to ease any worried folks. I began babysitting nearly weekend after that. One family in particular took me in and even had me nanny throughout the summer. I was naturally good at it! Kids liked me because I would play with them instead of watching television all day. We would play pretend; good guy versus bad guy, monster versus alien. But my favorite activity was playing with chalk when the weather was agreeable. I could change diapers like a pro and make almost anything into a game. The hardest part for me discipline.
I found discipline uncomfortable for a good chunck of my babysitting career. After all, I was merely a babysitter and I wanted the kids to like me. But the kids I began to babysit are like family to me now. I see them all of the time and the parents have been so supportive of me over the years. I was in. This babysitting job had evolved into another home for me. I felt so comfortable with these kids and in their home. Because of all of the time that I was spending with the kids, their parents began to expected me to disipline when necessary. I'm not talking about anything severe, just timeouts and a stern talking to if the kids were horribly misbehaving. I had to toughen up a bit, something I had never considered a quality of a good babysitter, but I do now. I learned to be stricter by watching the kids interact with their parents. I knew how they expected their kids to behave and what behavior was absolutely not dismissable. Time outs for temper tantrums and a stern talking to for purposefully not listening. I was a bit afraid that the kids would not like me as much once I became more authoritative, but to my surprise not much changed. I could still be fun without the kids getting out of control, in fact it earned me some respect. Even though I played a little bit of a different role as babysitter, I was still in a weird way, a part of this family.
The hours that I have spent babysitting over the years have gone undocumented but I am nearly positive the time I have dedicated to babysitting qualifies me as an expert. I was lucky enough to find a base family to help be become a better babysitter over the years through experience and observation. I have become a little stricter, this is true. My tolerance for back talk and rude remarks has deflated, but I still love to babysit. It for sure has taught me responsibility but I have also learned somethings about discipline. Somehow I have found the balance of disciplining without becoming the bad guy, and I think this will be a useful tool for me in the future when I have kids of my own. I know when to use it and when not to use it. Babysitting is all about feeling out the situation and deciding how to act, because whatever you do will influence the children's lives. That is why discipline was an important skill to learn as a babysitter to up my expertise.
Before the move, when I was twelve, my father signed me up to take the Red Cross babysitting course. At the time, this course seemed to me to be the longest day of my life. We had to sit in a room and listen to our instructor go on about CPR, the Heimlich maneuver, and how to change a diaper from about seven in the morning until five o’clock at night. But once that day was over, I was a true Red Cross certified Babysitter. With one days training I could be trusted with children of all ages, in theory.
Business was booming. People trusted me with their kids because I am generally friendly in character and I had my certification to ease any worried folks. I began babysitting nearly weekend after that. One family in particular took me in and even had me nanny throughout the summer. I was naturally good at it! Kids liked me because I would play with them instead of watching television all day. We would play pretend; good guy versus bad guy, monster versus alien. But my favorite activity was playing with chalk when the weather was agreeable. I could change diapers like a pro and make almost anything into a game. The hardest part for me discipline.
I found discipline uncomfortable for a good chunck of my babysitting career. After all, I was merely a babysitter and I wanted the kids to like me. But the kids I began to babysit are like family to me now. I see them all of the time and the parents have been so supportive of me over the years. I was in. This babysitting job had evolved into another home for me. I felt so comfortable with these kids and in their home. Because of all of the time that I was spending with the kids, their parents began to expected me to disipline when necessary. I'm not talking about anything severe, just timeouts and a stern talking to if the kids were horribly misbehaving. I had to toughen up a bit, something I had never considered a quality of a good babysitter, but I do now. I learned to be stricter by watching the kids interact with their parents. I knew how they expected their kids to behave and what behavior was absolutely not dismissable. Time outs for temper tantrums and a stern talking to for purposefully not listening. I was a bit afraid that the kids would not like me as much once I became more authoritative, but to my surprise not much changed. I could still be fun without the kids getting out of control, in fact it earned me some respect. Even though I played a little bit of a different role as babysitter, I was still in a weird way, a part of this family.
The hours that I have spent babysitting over the years have gone undocumented but I am nearly positive the time I have dedicated to babysitting qualifies me as an expert. I was lucky enough to find a base family to help be become a better babysitter over the years through experience and observation. I have become a little stricter, this is true. My tolerance for back talk and rude remarks has deflated, but I still love to babysit. It for sure has taught me responsibility but I have also learned somethings about discipline. Somehow I have found the balance of disciplining without becoming the bad guy, and I think this will be a useful tool for me in the future when I have kids of my own. I know when to use it and when not to use it. Babysitting is all about feeling out the situation and deciding how to act, because whatever you do will influence the children's lives. That is why discipline was an important skill to learn as a babysitter to up my expertise.